Xfce Forum

thewayofzen

Member

Registered: 2006-05-30

Posts: 13

binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

In gnome i was able to bind keys to control the volume of  my desktop.

ctrl + up arrow = volume up
ctrl + down arrow = volume down
ctrl + menukey = mute

I am unable to figure out any way i might be able to accomplish this in xfce and wouldnt mind doing so if there is a way.

I am currently using Ubuntu Dapper Drake + xfce beta svn as it is found in the ubuntu dapper repositories. (v4.3.90.2)

Any help/advice is appreciated!

thewayofzen

jayaldous

Member

Registered: 2006-05-23

Posts: 1

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

I don't have time to type my own stuff out right now, so I'm stealing it from this page (http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Use_Multimedia_Keys). Will delete/rewrite later if neccesary.

oh, turned out I didn't need much from there. But it's a helpful site anyway. Here is what you do:

Enter Settings -> Keyboard Settings

To define our own key bindings we have to create a new theme, I think you need to selete the "Theme" tab. Click "Add" to create it (note that all key bindings from the default theme are copied into the new theme). In the "Command Shortcuts" section doubleclick on an empty slot, enter the command you would like to bind and press the according key. To change a key after it is set, I think you double click it.

Use the following commands to control the ALSA volume, I'm not sure of the precise command for other sound systems.

amixer sset PCM 2+       # This will increase the PCM level by 2 Db
amixer sset PCM 2-       # This will decrease the PCM level by 2 Db
amixer sset PCM toggle   # This will toggle the PCM between muted and unmuted states

Sorry for the imprecision, but I'm out of town using a Windows system right now.

Good luck, I hope this is of some help.

thewayofzen

Member

Registered: 2006-05-30

Posts: 13

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

Killer that worked flawlessly and then even better when i replaced PCM with 'Master'
Thanks every so much for taking the time to reply.
Youve been a great help and i appreciate it!

Delaney

orb9220

Member

Registered: 2006-08-08

Posts: 5

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

I'm using KeyTouch and downloaded the ms digital pro and maps all my keys for me.

You can choose from default list of keyboards they have in list or download keyboard maps and import them.

just click and go.

stonecrest

Member

Registered: 2004-09-25

Posts: 32

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

Even better is to use "amixer sset PCM 1+ && amixer sset Master 1+", for example. Otherwise you won't be able to completely lower or increase the volume all the way.

---

[img]http://www.archlinux.org/logos/button.png[/img]

Nomer

Member

Registered: 2011-07-19

Posts: 14

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

Hey, Thanks for the help on this one. For some reason

amixer sset PCM 1+ && amixer sset Master 1+"

doesn't work but, I just put it a script and replaced "&&" with a newline character and that gets called when I press the correct keys.

mmassonnet

Member

From: the milky way galaxy

Registered: 2006-07-30

Posts: 99

Website

Re: binding keyboard shortcuts to volume up/down

I suggest the use of the parameter "-q" for amixer in order to avoid filling the .xsession-errors log f.e.

---

Mike